I recently downloaded an anime which came with english subtitles. As I wished to put the episodes into my iTunes library I had to convert them to mp4 format so I import the episodes into Handbrake, my video convertor of choice, and left them to run. Later when I looked at the now fully converted episodes I found that the subtitles had somehow been deleted, see the link for a picture which should give you the idea...

At first I had an issue where my PC suddenly stated crashing and restarting when I tried to wake it up from sleep mode. Once or twice it would just freeze and the screen would go black. Not long after that it refused to boot up at all and gave me a 6 beeps code and there is an orange light on the motherboard that is visible through the side grill.

I've been told/read that it is likely the motherboard or my vid card that is having the issue, and I've opened it up and cleaned out the fans etc. in case it was simply overheating.

The thing is, it boots up randomly (such as right now) and runs perfectly for as long as I'm using it. I know that when I power it off it will likely not power on again that day, or for several days, but then it does and it runs fine aside from the orange light still being on.

Now the light may just be normal, and I hadn't noticed it as I generally prefer looking at my screen when its powered on, but I doubt it.

Observing the power light on the top of the case I notice it comes on, cuts off a nano second, and stays on when it DOES boot. When it doesn't it stays orange and the beeping repeats obviously.

It just irritates me as if the motherboard WAS going bad then it would be getting progressively worse and not, if anything, be booting up more successfully. If it was the video card, then I would assume that I would have a performance issue playing videos/games or at the very least it might pop an error message when I run diagnostics etc.

If its an overheat, that seems unlikely as the fans are operational, clean, and my room is neutral temp if not cooler due to the season.

The power supply seems likely, but then why does it boot up fine sometimes and remain fully functional?

It is a Dell Studio XPS desktop that I got about 4 years ago and I've never had ANY problems with it whatsoever.

That it is a hardware issue is pretty irritating as I take excellent care of all my stuff, and software issues are generally easier and free to fix.

I don't really want to take my rig to a "repair" place or use Geek Squad for several reasons.

I have a lot of things on the HD that are private, such as pictures, writing, inventions etc.

Also a lot of files I received at a "severely reduced price" and sooooooo much porn.

Nothing that would make it on the local news or anything, but I'd rather not roll the dice on that. If need be I could probably remove my HD and then take it in. I also have almost all my files backed up on flash drives because I'm not an idiot.

And as for Geek Squad, I have heard nothing but bad things about them. They prey on your ignorance and take you for all they can squeeze out of you, going as far as flat out making shit up/misdiagnosing simple problems are major ones etc. and stealing your files. At least according to about 30 reviews I have read so far of GS. Zero were in anyway positive.

So can anyone help me with this?

I already posted a thread about my HDTV that crapped out literally 3 days before my PC messed up and got no help there. I posted it on off topic, so I'm hoping that posting this here will yield at least SOME result. Thanks.

I got some mac troubles on installing Windows if anyone is in that fieldPHA+SSdtIGxvb2tpbmcgdG8gaW5zdGFsbCBXaW5kb3dzIG9uIG15IE1hYywgYW5kIGxlYXJuZWQgdGhhdCBJJ2QgbmVlZCB0byBwYXJ0aXRpb24gbXkgaGFyZCBkcml2ZS4gV2VsbCB3aGVuIEkgZ28gdG8gZG8gdGhhdCwgaXQgbG9va3MgbGlrZSB0aGlzLjwvcD4KPHA+PGltZyBzcmM9Imh0dHA6Ly9pLmltZ3VyLmNvbS9tZUhVNS5wbmciIGFsdD0iaW1hZ2UiLz48L3A+CjxwPkknbSB3b3JyaWVkIHRoYXQgSSBkb24ndCBoYXZlIGVub3VnaCBtZW1vcnkgdG8gcnVuIHRoZSBXaW5kb3dzIHNvZnR3YXJlLCBhbmQgaWYgSSBkb24ndCwgaG93IHdvdWxkIEkgb3B0aW1pemUgbXkgbWVtb3J5PzwvcD4=

From what you've said it definitely sounds as if your PSU has worn out and has developed a number of faults as a result.

I'd recommend immediate replacement as while the most obvious problem with dying PSUs is Undervolting (not supply enough power), they can also Overvolt and short circuit, often causing minor accumulative damage to your system. There's also the chance of a catastrophic failure on boot up causing a powersurge that fries your entire system, which is not only no fun but fried electronics fucking stink.

Hi, I've been having serious issues with my laptop. I always check on various 'can I run it' style websites before purchasing games for my laptop, and they always say I have easily above the recommended specs, but often games that you'd think would be very easy to run (Mass Effect, GTA IV, etc.) run extremely badly, while games that are supposed to be difficult to run like Battlefield 3 and Crysis 2 run just fine. Anyone got an idea of what the problem might be, especially since it seems to only be affecting some games, and unlikely ones at that? Like I've said, I always check on several websites whether I'll be able to run it before getting a game, so it's really annoying when I get them and they turn out not to work for no reason I can see. I'd assume it was just that these websites were inaccurate and my laptop was actually shit, if it weren't for the fact that apparently more demanding games work just fine.

In Search of Username:Hi, I've been having serious issues with my laptop. I always check on various 'can I run it' style websites before purchasing games for my laptop, and they always say I have easily above the recommended specs, but often games that you'd think would be very easy to run (Mass Effect, GTA IV, etc.) run extremely badly, while games that are supposed to be difficult to run like Battlefield 3 and Crysis 2 run just fine. Anyone got an idea of what the problem might be, especially since it seems to only be affecting some games, and unlikely ones at that? Like I've said, I always check on several websites whether I'll be able to run it before getting a game, so it's really annoying when I get them and they turn out not to work for no reason I can see. I'd assume it was just that these websites were inaccurate and my laptop was actually shit, if it weren't for the fact that apparently more demanding games work just fine.

My guess is that your laptop has both a integrated graphics card and a discrete graphics card. It is properly switching to your proper graphics card when it launches Battlefield 3 and Crysis 2. In your graphics card settings or maybe somewhere in the right click menu of a game shortcut, you should be able to tell it which GPU to use when running that game. I think Nvidia's two GPU setup like that is called Optimus. Look that up and find out how to set which GPU to use. I'm betting Mass Effect runs badly because it's not using the full-on discrete card, and is instead using your laptop's crappy integrated card.

GTA IV is kind of a crap shoot. Even if it uses the correct GPU, it could run terribly. It's kind of luck whether that game runs well or not. And turning all the settings all the way up is not designed to run on a high end PC, it's designed to run on future hardware. At least that's what I heard somewhere. I think I ran that game with everything at half or something. Basically it was a bad PC port with a strange idea that its graphics settings should cater to theoretical future computers.

In Search of Username:Hi, I've been having serious issues with my laptop. I always check on various 'can I run it' style websites before purchasing games for my laptop, and they always say I have easily above the recommended specs, but often games that you'd think would be very easy to run (Mass Effect, GTA IV, etc.) run extremely badly, while games that are supposed to be difficult to run like Battlefield 3 and Crysis 2 run just fine. Anyone got an idea of what the problem might be, especially since it seems to only be affecting some games, and unlikely ones at that? Like I've said, I always check on several websites whether I'll be able to run it before getting a game, so it's really annoying when I get them and they turn out not to work for no reason I can see. I'd assume it was just that these websites were inaccurate and my laptop was actually shit, if it weren't for the fact that apparently more demanding games work just fine.

My guess is that your laptop has both a integrated graphics card and a discrete graphics card. It is properly switching to your proper graphics card when it launches Battlefield 3 and Crysis 2. In your graphics card settings or maybe somewhere in the right click menu of a game shortcut, you should be able to tell it which GPU to use when running that game. I think Nvidia's two GPU setup like that is called Optimus. Look that up and find out how to set which GPU to use. I'm betting Mass Effect runs badly because it's not using the full-on discrete card, and is instead using your laptop's crappy integrated card.

GTA IV is kind of a crap shoot. Even if it uses the correct GPU, it could run terribly. It's kind of luck whether that game runs well or not. And turning all the settings all the way up is not designed to run on a high end PC, it's designed to run on future hardware. At least that's what I heard somewhere. I think I ran that game with everything at half or something. Basically it was a bad PC port with a strange idea that its graphics settings should cater to theoretical future computers.

Thanks so much! Apparently my laptop was defaulting to the graphics card that was unsupported by Mass Effect 2 whenever I played Mass Effect 2. -_- So I've just set it to stick with the good card now.

Yeah I see what you mean, even with the better card running I can only get GTA onto medium settings. Still, better than it was before, and all my other games work wayyyyy better than before.

Maybe now I'll have the confidence to actually get Far Cry 3 on PC without expecting it to be completely broken. :D

I got some mac troubles on installing Windows if anyone is in that fieldPHA+SSdtIGxvb2tpbmcgdG8gaW5zdGFsbCBXaW5kb3dzIG9uIG15IE1hYywgYW5kIGxlYXJuZWQgdGhhdCBJJ2QgbmVlZCB0byBwYXJ0aXRpb24gbXkgaGFyZCBkcml2ZS4gV2VsbCB3aGVuIEkgZ28gdG8gZG8gdGhhdCwgaXQgbG9va3MgbGlrZSB0aGlzLjwvcD4KPHA+PGltZyBzcmM9Imh0dHA6Ly9pLmltZ3VyLmNvbS9tZUhVNS5wbmciIGFsdD0iaW1hZ2UiLz48L3A+CjxwPkknbSB3b3JyaWVkIHRoYXQgSSBkb24ndCBoYXZlIGVub3VnaCBtZW1vcnkgdG8gcnVuIHRoZSBXaW5kb3dzIHNvZnR3YXJlLCBhbmQgaWYgSSBkb24ndCwgaG93IHdvdWxkIEkgb3B0aW1pemUgbXkgbWVtb3J5PzwvcD4=

Hi, I don't know if you've resolved this problem yet, but the problem is mainly that the screen you posted shows that you're using the Disk Utility. This program has nothing to do with installing Windows. What you want to be using is Boot Camp Assistant. This can also be found in the utilities folder. Start that up and it's pretty straight forward. You just use a slider to decide how much disk space you want to give Windows (minimum is 5GB). Then follow the instructions to create the partition. Pop in your Windows installation disk and select the partition as the install disk. Your computer should restart to start the installation. So, a few things.

1. You're computer is now recognizing the Windows partition as a completely separate hard drive. You can still copy files between them, but obviously you can't run Mac OS programs on the Windows partition and vice-versa. Also, things like music and browser bookmarks will not be on the new partition.

2. When running the install disk you might get a notice that the partition is not correctly formatted for Windows. Just let the install disk do the reformat and you should be good.

3. To access Windows, restart your computer while holding down the option key, a screen will come up allowing you to select which partition to boot up. You can also choose which is the default, meaning you can have it automatically boot to Windows. Generally Mac OS is the default.

I got some mac troubles on installing Windows if anyone is in that fieldPHA+SSdtIGxvb2tpbmcgdG8gaW5zdGFsbCBXaW5kb3dzIG9uIG15IE1hYywgYW5kIGxlYXJuZWQgdGhhdCBJJ2QgbmVlZCB0byBwYXJ0aXRpb24gbXkgaGFyZCBkcml2ZS4gV2VsbCB3aGVuIEkgZ28gdG8gZG8gdGhhdCwgaXQgbG9va3MgbGlrZSB0aGlzLjwvcD4KPHA+PGltZyBzcmM9Imh0dHA6Ly9pLmltZ3VyLmNvbS9tZUhVNS5wbmciIGFsdD0iaW1hZ2UiLz48L3A+CjxwPkknbSB3b3JyaWVkIHRoYXQgSSBkb24ndCBoYXZlIGVub3VnaCBtZW1vcnkgdG8gcnVuIHRoZSBXaW5kb3dzIHNvZnR3YXJlLCBhbmQgaWYgSSBkb24ndCwgaG93IHdvdWxkIEkgb3B0aW1pemUgbXkgbWVtb3J5PzwvcD4=

Hi, I don't know if you've resolved this problem yet, but the problem is mainly that the screen you posted shows that you're using the Disk Utility. This program has nothing to do with installing Windows. What you want to be using is Boot Camp Assistant. This can also be found in the utilities folder. Start that up and it's pretty straight forward. You just use a slider to decide how much disk space you want to give Windows (minimum is 5GB). Then follow the instructions to create the partition. Pop in your Windows installation disk and select the partition as the install disk. Your computer should restart to start the installation. So, a few things.

1. You're computer is now recognizing the Windows partition as a completely separate hard drive. You can still copy files between them, but obviously you can't run Mac OS programs on the Windows partition and vice-versa. Also, things like music and browser bookmarks will not be on the new partition.

2. When running the install disk you might get a notice that the partition is not correctly formatted for Windows. Just let the install disk do the reformat and you should be good.

3. To access Windows, restart your computer while holding down the option key, a screen will come up allowing you to select which partition to boot up. You can also choose which is the default, meaning you can have it automatically boot to Windows. Generally Mac OS is the default.

Well, I hope this helped, if you didn't already get this.

Thank you so much for replying, but I did get this resolved. Just had to talk to my brother who had already done so. Would've earlier if I had better contact with him.

I cannot open Catalyst, I get errors. I cannot play games, they freeze and give me errors. This setup lasted for years, I don't know why my computer is suddenly failing like this.

I'd uninstall the drivers completely, shut down the box, pull the card, give it a quick eyeball to make sure there's no obvious damage, reslot the card, boot up, reinstall with the latest drivers and see how that goes.

I'm looking into Crossfiring my graphics card with another HD 5870. I'm interested in the benefits of Crossfiring; any/all advice is apprciated.

Well, first off, is your motherboard crossfire capable and does your PSU have enough power AND extra 6-pin connectors to support another GPU card? Also, can your current HD 5870 support a crossfire bridge (it should but you never know)?

If the answer is 'no' to any of those then it's gonna take some upgrading and replacement to get crossfire working.

If I remember correctly, crossfire will give you around 80% improved performance over a single GPU on average, with some games getting up near 90% while other games just don't get along with crossfire at all. The downside is that when games don't get along with crossfire it can take a while for a patch (developer) or crossfire profile (AMD) to get released to take care of the problem(s).

I'm looking into Crossfiring my graphics card with another HD 5870. I'm interested in the benefits of Crossfiring; any/all advice is apprciated.

Well, first off, is your motherboard crossfire capable and does your PSU have enough power AND extra 6-pin connectors to support another GPU card? Also, can your current HD 5870 support a crossfire bridge (it should but you never know)?

If the answer is 'no' to any of those then it's gonna take some upgrading and replacement to get crossfire working.

If I remember correctly, crossfire will give you around 80% improved performance over a single GPU on average, with some games getting up near 90% while other games just don't get along with crossfire at all. The downside is that when games don't get along with crossfire it can take a while for a patch (developer) or crossfire profile (AMD) to get released to take care of the problem(s).

My MB and system both support Crossfire and have the space/energy :) And the HD 5870 supports crossfire bridging (One of those cards that has 15 stickers on the box pointing out it's ready to crossfire with the 5830, 5850 and 5870) That sounds like a more then acceptable power increase; and frankly I don't purchase new releases as my backlog is too large as is *and it's cheaper to buy games when they're older ;)* How exactly will VRAM work? Will it double (to 2048) or stick to the current (1024Mb) one game *Cough GTA IV* requires just so much VRAM

I cannot open Catalyst, I get errors. I cannot play games, they freeze and give me errors. This setup lasted for years, I don't know why my computer is suddenly failing like this.

I'd uninstall the drivers completely, shut down the box, pull the card, give it a quick eyeball to make sure there's no obvious damage, reslot the card, boot up, reinstall with the latest drivers and see how that goes.

I seem to be having some problems with my internet connection.Whenever I connect to a network, I can only stay connected for about 10-20 minutes at a time: after a while, the internet connection always becomes "limited".

Whenever I run games, from Fallout 3 to DayZ to World of Tanks to Supreme Commander to Minecraft, they run completely smooth at 50 or 60 FPS on ANY setting for about 3 minutes.

At that point, it nosedives. Drops to maybe 10 FPS if even that. Doesn't matter what quality or resolution I set it to. Maximum or Minimum. My FPS don't go above 9 or 10.

This makes no sense to me for numerous reasons.

I have friends with less powerful laptops that can run these things no problem, every bit of research I've done has seemed to imply all my hardware is pretty decent, etc.

I have turned off Windows Indexing as I heard that can slow things down. I have all the latest updates and drivers. I have killed as many background programs as physically possible. I have run several different Anti-Virus and Malware programs just in case. The problem persists.

Ugh... You're gaming on a multimedia GPU... a mobile rated multimedia GPU. I'm surprised you can get the 3 minutes of good performance in the first place.

Have you noticed anything going on when this happens, such as your laptop becoming extremely hot?

Sorry, I know software, but I'm a bit undereducated when it comes to hardware. What exactly does it mean to have a multimedia GPU? That it's built to run movies and music the like? And mobile rated? Are you saying I have a graphics card rated for a phone???

And yes, it does get quite hot on the underside whenever I do something intensive.

I have also noticed that the two times I tried downloading the .zip, I ended up with files with different sizes.The first one was 51,000 KB and the second was 16,000 KB.

Go back to the file listing and look up the size the actual file is (hint: it's 216.5MB).

The reason you're having problems is that you're not downloading the entire program.

Ah, yeah I should probably have updated this post.

I figured out the reason the drivers don't work is that my internet connection is too unstable to download them properly.I also figured out that this was a documented problem with my particular model, and that a driver to fix it will be released tomorrow.

I guess I'll just have to download it on a different computer and use a usb to get it to this one.

I've started re-working this entire advice guide section. Instead of just being computer-related, it'll be stretching into the more common questions of the Advice Thread, from computers, forums, to health, mental awareness and underwear.

okay I'm having WAY too many problems with my PC and I think its time for an upgrade but I have no idea where to start :Shere's the thing I tried playing Darksiders 2 and the sun is ever present no matter where I am, I could be at the bottom of a dungeon and the sun just magically shines through walls :(then I tried playing Tomb Raider, first if I play full screen the FPS drop to 6, so I said okay I'll play on Windowed mode, FPS go up to 35 and nothing seems to work right, the rain turns to walls with the water effect, everything moves super jaggy and that scene of the first fire and one match left, not really a problem since all fires are eternally on! even my torch never goes out even though Lara says its out. I can't bring myself to play like this, and I want to play Bioshock Infinite but I know its not going to play properly :( I can't even play Just Cause 2, basically all 3-D games run poorly or just run at plain and simply unplayable levels

Hello, this is kind of a (very) late reply but I don't think you need to buy a new PC, if you haven't already. Your CPU is reasonably powerful, only your graphics card is quite weak to be honest. Just grab a gtx 650 and all games will run perfectly ok.

Hello, this is kind of a (very) late reply but I don't think you need to buy a new PC, if you haven't already. Your CPU is reasonably powerful, only your graphics card is quite weak to be honest. Just grab a gtx 650 and all games will run perfectly ok.

better late than never I was still waiting for a reply just in case so I'm glad it finally came in :)so all I need is the GTX 650?well that'll be a lot cheaper than buying a new PC then, THANKS :D